Leigh Van Horn, University of Houston - Downtown

Here's an insightful look into how middle school students establish literacy communities and begin to understand literature. In the pages of this new book, author Leigh Van Horn and her students examine their own literacy community, their meaning making, and the power structures within their community -providing you with valuable insights you can apply in your own classroom.

The book is based on a four-year examination, by the teacher and her students, of their literacy practices as they developed a community of learners who read, questioned, talked, performed, wrote, and visually represented their meaning making and their lives together. You will learn from the writings, discussions, and interviews of students that pieced together the elements of their literacy community. And through the voices of these adolescents, you will learn much about the impact and influence of our ways of doing schooling. Theory, practice, and examples of students' responses combine to give you a complete look at an ongoing process of creating and sustaining a literacy community. You learn from the voices of many different students and perspectives. And you get creative literacy activities to use with students.

All of this, plus student work samples, lists of recommended readings and resources, valuable assessment and evaluation suggestions, and 21 extremely useful appendixes (see next page for a complete list in the Table of Contents) combine to give you the best look yet at the critical aspects of teaching and learning within the language arts curriculum.

2002 Paperbound 350pp est. ISBN: 1-929024-42-8 Order #455 (5-9) $24.95

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